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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29463222">The Trials: Isochronon</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevyre/pseuds/Nevyre'>Nevyre</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebermudatriangle/pseuds/thebermudatriangle'>thebermudatriangle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stray Kids (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Explicit Language, How Do I Tag, Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Lee Minho | Lee Know is a Little Shit, M/M, Thriller, for a bit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:21:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,966</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29463222</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevyre/pseuds/Nevyre, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebermudatriangle/pseuds/thebermudatriangle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's nothing else." Minho reports, turning to face the shorter, who had turned the card over a couple of times to check if there was more written or if he had missed something. The older male then questioned the other, "What does it say?"</p><p>"Welcome players to The Trials," Jisung read, voice and tone jokingly mimicking that of a typical news anchor. The lack of response and acknowledgement saddened him just a tiny bit causing him to frown. Truthfully, he was actually resisting the urge to pout - he figured that it would only serve to annoy the older.</p><p>"Trials?" Minho asked. Obviously, the words didn't only confuse him but also Jisung. It was a simple sentence and it was easy enough to understand yet none of their questions were answered. In fact, only more had arisen.</p><p>-</p><p>Alternately, in a world where soulmates who get separated by death are given a second chance, follow along as Han Jisung and Lee Minho fight for their right to survive.</p><p>------</p><p>Warning! This story will include the following: graphic descriptions of blood and violence, gore, strong language. </p><p>If any of these make you uncomfortable, please refrain from continuing on with this story.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Trials: Isochronon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi, how you doin? ;)</p><p>(if u get this reference, ily)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Coming through!"</p><p>A young adult wearing a dark fuschia sweater and denim jeans shouted out, his silver bangs peeking out from under his backwards worn cap. He had round, doe eyes with dark brown irises, a button nose and thin pink lips.</p><p>"Watch where you're going!" A man yelled in response as he zoomed past him. This caused him to lazily roll his eyes. 'Sheesh. It's not like I killed your soulmate or anything.'</p><p>'Eh. Maybe he's just pissy because he hasn't found his yet. There are like 7 billion other people and it's not like he could possibly have direct contact with each and everyone of them,' he reasoned with himself, not having anything better to do as he headed home.</p><p>'Even then there's no guarantee he'll find his soulmate. Afterall, there's a slim chance but it's still possible that his soulmate hasn't even been born yet,' he mused to himself.</p><p>"Sorry!" He apologized. While he wasn't exactly sincere, he had at least done it out of common courtesy.</p><p>He went down the street. As he took a turn at the intersection he saw a crowd of people taking up half the road - across from a company of 3 black cars. The crowd seemed to have a lot of reporters judging from how the people were either holding mics or a camera. He stopped before the crowd and picked up his skateboard.</p><p>He pushed his way through the crowd curious about what's happening. Once he got to the front, he realised that the crowd was actually standing in front of a station house.</p><p>Deciding that it really wasn't worth his time, he made a move to turn around and leave. Unfortunately, before he could, the door to the station opened and the enthusiastic reporters pushed forward in an attempt to get an interview.</p><p>The sudden push had sent him tumbling forward but thankfully, he managed to regain his balance before he fell over. This wasn't the end of it though, he kept getting shoved and eventually reached the line of police officers that had lined up.</p><p>They had formed a small circle surrounding the entrance and he presumed they'd be escorting the person to the vehicle entourage that he had seen earlier. It was apparent that the officers were acting as a barrier between whoever was going to get in that car and the sea of reporters.</p><p>Stuck in the crowd with reporter's hands going all over the place, one of the said hands had knocked his hat off of his head. Angry and frustrated at the situation, he was about to shout at the person when the door to the station opened once more.</p><p>Immediately the crowd turned into an uproar and Jisung was barely able to hear himself over the commotion. However, he didn't pay much attention to it as his sights locked onto the muscular figure that had come out of the station.</p><p>Despite the figure's use of casual clothing, he was still very intimidating. Perhaps, it was his furrowed brows and constantly glaring eyes, or maybe even his gritted teeth.</p><p>He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was about the man that screamed danger, but his guts seemed to tell him that he was a criminal and that it'd be best if he were to stay away.</p><p>The man had clearly been detained by force, his squirming and thrashing in the officer's hold showcasing it. It seemed the man had quite some strength since there were two officers holding him and even then Jisung could see that they were struggling.</p><p>The remaining police officers quickly formed a complete circle around them and began to move towards the vehicles. This of course started another series of pushes and shoves.</p><p>Jisung was still unable to escape, getting pushed along to follow the circle against his will. About half way through, it seemed a reporter managed to break through the circle and the officers rushed to handle it.</p><p>In the midst of this commotion, the criminal <em>broke free of his restraints.</em></p><p>He didn't know how and why the man had a gun. He didn't know what it was that he had done to deserve such a fate. He didn't know why it had to be him out of the 100 or so other people but he had happened to get in the way of the criminal's escape and just like that, he was <em>shot</em>.</p><p>At first the pain didn't register, his senses going numb as his ears began ringing at what he thought were screams. He felt as though he was floating, watching from far away as they subdued the criminal.</p><p>He suddenly felt a lack of energy in his body. Everything was so heavy, so numb. Before he knew it, his knees gave in and he fell forward.</p><p>He subconsciously moved his hand towards his chest, he felt something wet and raised his hand to see what it was.</p><p>Blood.</p><p>Suddenly a fiery pain burst forth as he screamed mutedly. His senses were overloaded. From the sudden influx of pain, the flashing cameras, the shouts of concern, it was all just too much.</p><p>The crowd in front of him cleared a little as police officers took control of the situation and brought him over to a car. It seemed that the reporters still had at least a grain of humanity in them as they quickly cleared a path for them.</p><p>He looked back at the crowd for a bit, head fuzzy. He noticed a dark figure standing a meter or so from the crowd and turned to fully face it.</p><p>He didn't know why he did. He just felt as though he was compelled to do it. Locking gazes with the figure's brown irises, his eyes widening slightly.</p><p>The male, probably not much older than himself, had black hair, and wore a worn-out, black, oversized tee with a hint of white showing from the shirt he wore underneath. He also wore a pair of black sweats and platform shoes.</p><p>He was handsome, unbelievably so. Well, in his opinion at least. His features were sharp and defined, his jaw angular and his nose high. His feline-like eyes, however, were undoubtedly the most appealing of his features. His long lashes complimented his eyes that seemingly held a faint sparkle.</p><p>It was his <em>soulmate</em>.</p><p>Noticing that his vision was beginning to blur, he barely managed to muster enough energy to give the man a small, pained smile before his eyes fluttered shut, blacking out.</p><p>-</p><p>He had just left the studio after a long three hour dance session for a quick run to the convenience store. He'd had a light breakfast, as per usual, not wanting to get an upset stomach. He was a dancer after all.</p><p>However, that also meant that he'd have to continuously take small meals throughout the day. Today, he just happened to have emptied out his supply of snacks and unfortunately for him, practice had let out late the day before so he hadn't been able to restock.</p><p>He figured since his entire crew had agreed to take a break, he might as well use this time to go to the nearby mart. It was better to be safe than sorry, he couldn't be certain that he'd be able to leave early.</p><p>With how often he actually visits the said store, he didn't even need to pay attention to where he was headed. At this point, it was basically second nature to him. Waiting for the pedestrian light across the road to turn green, he plugged in his earphones as he played the song his team was currently choreographing for, leaning against the streetlight. He nodded his head to the beat, lips mouthing the lyrics as he ran through the dance with the small movements of his hands.</p><p>His eyes shot up as the people who were similarly waiting for the light began to speed past, his feet following suit after confirming that it was safe to cross. Seeing that the light by the next crossing he needed to take was also green, he decided to take a risk and ran as fast as he could, hoping that he would make it before the time ran out.</p><p>He had almost immediately taken notice of the commotion, as he was playing the music at a low volume. Curious to know what had happened, he took out his earphones, thinking that it would help him hear what the crowd was fussing over. He stuffed his phone and earphones in his pocket, and just as he was about to take a peek, a loud bang was heard.</p><p>He flinched in surprise, heart racing when he heard the screams that followed it. He could see the sea of people parting slightly, most if not all of them having taken a step backwards. In an attempt to avoid being involved in whatever was going on, he stayed still. Truthfully, it would've been better if he had just turned around and left, his shopping surely could have waited a few hours more, but for some reason he felt as though he was obligated to stay.</p><p>He stood frozen as he silently monitored the crowd. Three figures separated from the swarm of people he had recognized to be reporters. From the uniform they wore, he could easily make out that two of them were police officers, but the other was different - he seemed to be a civilian. It was as if an invisible force held his head in place, forcing him to stare at the male's bloody back.</p><p>Inwardly, he questioned, 'What happened? Was he shot?'</p><p>All those thoughts faded from his mind as the male's head turned around slowly, facing him. He could see the other's eyes widening slightly and his heart dropped as he realized who exactly it was.</p><p>He felt helpless upon seeing the male let out a small, pained smile. And that feeling only intensified when the silverette passed out. After getting over his momentary shock, he ran over to the police officer, tugging on his hand, demanding, "Officer, please take me with you!"<br/>
The officer was, understandably, surprised, but he remained professional and calmly asked him what his relation with the man was. His face fell as the situation fully sank in.</p><p>Sporting a pale expression, he glumly replied, "He- He's my soulmate."</p><p>The officer was once again shocked to hear what he had said but quickly made a decision as he exchanged a short look with his comrade. The officer nodded to show that he understood and gestured towards one of the cars.</p><p>-</p><p>"And you are?" a woman questioned.</p><p>She had long brown hair, a lean and yet toned figure, angular features and an alluring gaze. The woman was actually quite the beauty, and, in all honesty, Minho would've probably found her attractive if not for the fact that he had 'met' his soulmate. But then again, he was very, <em>very</em> gay. So probably not after all.</p><p>"Lee Minho," he responded from where he sat.</p><p>"Alright then, Mr. Lee," She nodded, ruffling through the papers on the clipboard as she did so. After a brief pause, she took a page off of the board and a pen from her pocket, handing to him as she continued, "I understand that you may be feeling unwell due to the recent incident but could you please fill out this form with Jisung's details? The medical ones are most important. Blood type, allergies, those kinds of things."</p><p>Minho took the paper but didn't do anything else. Instead, he simply looked at her with a wry smile as he asked, "Me? You want me to fill this?"</p><p>She nodded, not quite understanding why he seemed hesitant and confused. Thinking that it may be because he was unsure if he should reveal such confidential information, she egged him on, "Well, it's the standard procedure. It would help the doctors avoid using or administering anything that would further harm the patient."</p><p>"Oh..." Minho muttered, raising his hand to ruffle through his hair as he began to explain, "About that. There's a slight problem."</p><p>"Yes?"</p><p>He paused again, trying to figure out how to put what had happened into words. Admittedly, however, what actually came out of his mouth was probably more vague than what he would have said if he had just blurted something out, "I don't know anything. I didn't even know his name until you mentioned it just now."</p><p>The nurse's face immediately turned sour in distaste, now thinking that he was trying to bother them, "In that case, I'm going to need you to leave. Only family members and the like are allowed access to the respective patient's medical information records."</p><p>Seeing him staying still and not doing anything, she threatened him further, "If you refuse to comply, I will call in security for impeding on our patient's care."</p><p>Immediately he stood up from his chair in surprise holding his hands up with the pen in one hand and a paper in the other as he refuted, "No. No. I know about the laws regarding patient privacy."</p><p>"Then, please cooperate with us. I don't have the time to play around. Since you are unable to provide the information for the form I still need to go through his emergency contacts," she said, her eyebrows raised as though she was daring him to do otherwise.</p><p>Racking his brains for a few moments, a light bulb seemed to go off in his head as he quickly vocalised his thoughts, "According to the law, I have every right to know what's happening to him!"</p><p>"You can't expect me to believe that without any evidence," she stated coldly as she tried to keep her face stoic, clearly failing, her eyebrows furrowing slightly in annoyance. "Who are you to Mr. Han?"</p><p>"I- I..." he breathed out, voice wavering. He couldn't help but let his face pale even further as the situation began to sink in, "I'm his- his uh... soulmate."</p><p>"And you mean to tell me that as his soulmate, you are unaware of anything about him?" The nurse inquired, a single eyebrow raised, still very much skeptical about his claims.</p><p>"Look, I know it sounds strange, but I'm telling the truth," he uttered, not quite sure what to do or say to convince the woman that he is, in fact, Jisung's soulmate. "I just met him, if you could even call it that, after he got... shot. When he was being carried away to the car, we locked eyes and well, he was my soulmate," he explained, hoping the other would believe him.</p><p>"I've only just seen him and I know it sounds like I'm lying but I'm telling the truth. You have to believe me," he pleaded, eyes wide and hopeful. "You, as a nurse, should know exactly how bad it is when your soulmate is in pain, let alone getting shot."</p><p>After hearing his reasoning and seeing his sincerity, she was still a bit hesitant but ended up letting it slide, sighing a little and nodded in understanding as she apologized. Just then, she was called by another nurse to get to the next patient's family, to which she signalled her awareness.</p><p>"If there are any new developments about his condition, I'll be sure to get someone to inform you," she gave him a tight smile and turned around, walking away.</p><p>Minho sat on one of the benches in front of the ICU, head buried in his hands, face scrunched in worry and stress. Remembering that he was supposed to be back at the studio by now, he called someone from the crew to inform them about where he was.</p><p><em>"Minho, where the hell are you?!" </em>His crewmate asked, voice harsh and angry.</p><p>"I'm at a hospital," he replied.</p><p><em>"Wait, hospital?! What happened?!"</em> The previous brash tone almost immediately dissipated, quickly turning into one of concern.</p><p>"Anyway," he chose to ignore his questions, not exactly wanting to have to explain everything. "I just called to let you guys know I'm not coming back."</p><p><em>"Minho you can't ju-" </em>Minho hung up before the other had the chance to finish his sentence, sighing softly. Trying to distract himself, he left his phone in his grasp instead of stuffing it in his pocket, hands fiddling and fidgeting with it.</p><p>Unknown to Minho, an hour or so had passed, and a doctor ran out of the operating room. After anxiously waiting the entire time, he couldn't resist to stop her and ask about Jisung.</p><p>"Doctor! How is he?" He asked, his words laced with worry and fear, but a hint of hope could be heard as well.</p><p>"I'm sorry sir, but could you please let me through? You can ask the nurse about him."</p><p>"Right. Sor-" He paused, seeming as if the air had suddenly got knocked out of him. He clutched his burning chest and fell to his knees, it felt like something inside him was getting ripped away.</p><p>"Sir! Sir! Try to stay awake! Si-"</p><p>Realising what was happening, he turned his head towards the door to the OR, letting out a few tears as he collapsed, the shouts of the nurse ringing in his ears before his vision turned black.</p><p>-</p><p>Jisung opened his eyes and immediately shut them once more, the sting from the bright lights shining down on him was too much to bear. He sat up and groaned, his chest aching. He slowly stood up and looked around.</p><p>White. It seemed like an endless void of white.</p><p>In the corner of his eyes, he saw a black splotch. He approached it with cautious steps, still unsure of what exactly was going on. It felt as though he had walked for ages, one step at a time, the distance he priorly thought to be short was seemingly extending infinitely.</p><p>He blamed it on everything being white, it messed with his perception of distance, time, space, <em>everything</em>. Due to the complete and utter silence and nothingness there was, he started to feel his anxiousness slowly rise, his previously tentative footsteps naturally beginning to speed up its pace.</p><p>His heart began to race at the thought of spending eternity here alone, so he sprinted towards the expanding blot, which showed him that he was nearing it. Only after running for quite some time, he could then make out that it was actually a figure of a man, or at least he assumed so due to their short hair. Of course, it could be a female, but something inside him was telling him otherwise.</p><p>Yet another eon appeared to pass before he finally arrived next to the figure who he now noticed was laid face-down. He immediately fell to his knees panting as he held himself up with his two arms, preventing him from lying completely flat on the ground. Catching his breath, he slowly crawled over.</p><p>"Excuse me?" He asked, gently placing his hand on the other's shoulder, but nothing. No reply, no sound, nothing.</p><p>The lack of response made his heart sink even lower. He had been alone for so long and yet, the moment he found someone the person was unconscious. The silence was eerily haunting. He steadily became frantic and when his patience ran out, he burst into tears as he turned the figure over onto his back.</p><p>'Male.' He mentally noted, the thought quickly disappearing as sobs wracked through his body.</p><p>He grabbed onto the man's dark oversized shirt, tightly gripping it as he shook him back and forth. At this point, he was basically begging and pleading for the male to wake up, "P-Please. Please wake up."</p><p>He didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to go home. But, it wasn't like his wants and wishes would be magically granted. He didn't know where he was and the only thing other than him in this stupidly large white space was the unconscious male he was hysterically shaking.</p><p>Controlling his wails, he took a deep breath and shouted at the motionless male in frustration, "Just wake up already!"</p><p>It seemed his words had finally gone through, the male shooting up from where he laid on the ground. He was heaving, hand raised and clutching onto his chest - right above his heart. He frantically looked around, trying to take in everything.</p><p>"Who are you? Where are we? And.. what the hell is that?" The man questioned, pointing to the space behind the other, face sporting a confused expression.</p><p>Bombarded by the flurry of questions, his sobs turned into sniffles as he explained, rapidly spreading up as he began to rant about what he knew - it wasn't much but it was still something, "I'm Han Jisung. I-I don't know where we are. I can't tell how long I've been stuck here but you and I are the only things around here. I don't know what to do and I was hoping that you might but clearly that doesn't seem to be tru-"</p><p>"Okay, okay. Calm down. Jisung, was it?" The male grabbed onto his shoulders, the action sudden enough to cause the other to pause. Jisung nodded in understanding as he looked down towards the floor, closing his eyes as he tried to steady his breathing. The last thing they needed was for him to have a panic attack.</p><p>The male waited for the other to settle before commenting, "You know... You still haven't answered my last question though."</p><p>"Huh?" Jisung let out a small noise to voice his confusion. Clearly he didn't remember what the male had asked earlier. The male inwardly rolled his eyes at the other's dumbfounded expression but showed no change in expression as he asked, "Like I said. What the hell is that?"</p><p>"Eh?"</p><p>He turned to where the male was looking. There was what seemed to be a large white clock. And by large, he meant that if he were to make a rough estimate, he'd say the diameter spans over the length of 100 blue whales fused together. He also took note of how the hands and few of the numbers also seemed to be missing.</p><p>How had he not noticed that before? He truthfully expressed his confusion and lack of knowledge about it, stuttering in slight shock, "T-that. That wasn't there a few minutes ago."</p><p>"Are you sure?" the man asked, unsure of how the boy could miss something so big. Truth be told, the male was skeptical, wondering if the other had reason to choose to hide information from him.</p><p>"Yeah. I didn't see it." Jisung tried to make his voice sound as genuine as possible, after all, he understood how idiotic the words that were coming out from his mouth may seem to the male. The male had no reason to trust him but he was telling the truth, he hadn't seen the enormous clock.</p><p>'I can't tell if this dude is just blind or if he's telling the truth. Let's test the waters a bit.'<br/>
He needed to know if he could trust the other. Of course, he wouldn't fully place his faith even after this but he would at least consider it. The male's expression remained indifferent, but he made it obvious to the other that he doubted him by sarcastically questioning him, "You're telling me that you didn't see that huge ass clock?"</p><p>"I know I probably sound insane right now but I swear I'm not lying." At this point he was almost pleading, hoping the male would believe him.</p><p>"Right," the man deadpanned, choosing to just stay silent instead of retaliating. Inwardly, he noted that he didn't think that it was a complete lie. Something within him had said so and he was inclined to believe it - there wasn't once that his gut feeling had been wrong.</p><p>"So..." Jisung dragged out, hand reaching up to scratch the back of his head. The male had decided to keep up his facade as an easily-irritable person. He figured it'd give him reason to refrain from revealing much about himself. Keeping to his newly decided character, the male rolled his eyes, as he snapped, "What?"</p><p>With a tone that implied what he wanted the male to say was obvious, as well as a slightly incredulous look on his face, Jisung asked the male, "Are you not going to introduce yourself?"</p><p>Once the question had actually escaped, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten a somewhat crucial detail - not really - and immediately jumped to add on, "Oh right! I forgot to mention it earlier, I'm 21."</p><p>"Lee Minho, 23," he replied. It was brief and curt, but the said man didn't care much about what impression it had made. He found no use in wasting time on pleasantries. He'd rather use the energy on something other than talking about nonsensical things.</p><p>"So what do you think we should do?" Jisung questioned, eyes darting back towards the colossal monument next to them as he did so.</p><p>"There's no other choice really. We head to the clock." the older said, looking up at the other with a slightly judgemental look to which Jisung could only sheepishly rub the back of his neck. Minho proceeded to pull himself off of the ground, stretching his limbs a bit after he stood up before gesturing for the younger to follow him, "Come on."</p><p>The two men walked forward at a steady pace, and just like what Jisung experienced before, the journey towards the clock took forever, the white space seeming to be expanding unceasingly. The company made it better though. It was silent but it wasn't lonely. Not anymore.</p><p>It had felt like they had spent an eternity just walking towards the clock. Judging on how much bigger the clock had become, Jisung roughly estimated that they were more or less two-thirds the way there. As they continued, the younger took notice of a black table - which was yet another thing that had appeared out of nowhere - and pointed towards it, "Look! Over there!"</p><p>'That definitely wasn't there earlier. Guess he was telling the truth after all.'</p><p>"Let's go!" Jisung exclaimed, quickening his pace into a jog as he moved towards the table. Minho remained silent but followed behind him.</p><p>The younger male, who was ahead of the other, reached the table soon enough and saw a white cue card placed on top. He picked it up to examine it whilst Minho took his time to come over, looking around to see if there was anything else that was new.</p><p>"There's nothing else." Minho reports, turning to face the shorter, who had turned the card over a couple of times to check if there was more written or if he had missed something. The older male then questioned the other, "What does it say?"</p><p>"Welcome players to <b>The Trials</b>," Jisung read, voice and tone jokingly mimicking that of a typical news anchor. The lack of response and acknowledgement saddened him just a tiny bit, causing him to frown. Truthfully, he was actually resisting the urge to pout - he figured that it would only serve to annoy the older.</p><p>"Trials?" Minho asked. Obviously, the words didn't only confuse him but also Jisung. It was a simple sentence and it was easy enough to understand yet none of their questions were answered. In fact, only more had arisen.</p><p>Despite knowing that, in reality, the question was actually meant for Minho to mull over himself rather than an actual question that was aimed at anyone else, Jisung - nonetheless - still responded, "I don't know either."</p><p>Figuring that there was no use in asking questions if they wouldn't get any answers, Jisung continued to read from the card. "You have a total of 7 days to complete the entirety of the trials. To view the timer, swipe your right hand downwards and it shall appear."</p><p>He looked at the other male expectantly as he urged him to follow the instructions, "Try it."</p><p>Seeing no reason to refuse, Minho nodded and swiped his right hand downward. He frowned slightly, unable to hide his displeasure and irritation as he huffed out an annoyed grumble, "Nothing's happening."</p><p>Confused as well, Jisung was wondering what they could do. He didn't know what the problem was so he didn't know how to solve it. In the end, he decided to try for himself to see what was going on and relayed as such to the older, "Really? Let me try. Maybe I can work something out."</p><p>He swiped his right hand down and tinkered around a bit before grinning wildly and estatically exclaiming, "Oh! I got it."</p><p>Minho, who had tried and failed, was in slight disbelief and squinted his eyes cynically, gazing at Jisung with a doubtful expression that he no longer bothered to hide, "What? Why can't I see it?"</p><p>"It's at the top right corner. Angle your head up slightly."</p><p>Just as Jisung had informed him, when Minho swiped his right hand and tilted his head in the aforementioned direction, a timer appeared in the right corner of his vision. "Yeah, I got it now," he told the younger of his success before moving closer to the male, looking over Jisung's shoulder as he prompted him to continue, "What else?"</p><p>"The timer indicates the time players have to complete the trials in the following order: day, hour, minutes, seconds," Jisung announced, followed by a curt nod and a soft hum from Minho. After a short pause from Jisung who was trying to fully grasp the information, he carried on, "Please follow the arrows towards the first trial."</p><p>"Arrows? What arro-" Before Minho could finish his sentence, the younger male had beat him to it. "I guess that's it," Jisung glanced at the blue arrows that had appeared on the ground a little ways off from them. It seemed to point towards the clock which was still some distance off.</p><p>"Yeah," Minho replied breathily, still not fully believing what was happening. It wasn't like he actively imagined himself waking up in a weird, completely white space with another male so he didn't know what to think, but he was definitely suspicious about the whole thing.</p><p>While technically no one forced them to go, the lack of any other clues had basically left them without any other choice. They followed the arrows as instructed in the cue card. As they passed the first one, Jisung - feeling that it would be best if he was cautious of his surroundings - looked back and saw that the black table from before was now gone.</p><p>It was as if it disappeared into thin air. 'The arrow we passed had also faded away,' he mused to himself. The place really was weird. How could objects just randomly appear and disappear? With how supernatural the past few moments were, he began to wonder if this was just some dream that his sick mind had decided to fuck him over with.</p><p>Finally, they had reached the end of the line of arrows, which to his earlier prediction had in fact been by the clock. In front of them stood a familiar contraption and Minho's eyes trailed up and down, examining the said thing as he voiced out the thought they both had, "An elevator?"</p><p>"Press the button," Jisung encouraged the other, nudging the older male towards the 'elevator' with his elbow. In response to this, Minho glared at him causing the younger to reluctantly step forward.</p><p>As if the contraption had some sort of sensor, the doors opened automatically with a small 'ding' once Jisung had neared them. He was still very much wary. The fear of the unknown bearing down onto his shoulders as he thought about entering.</p><p>Chickening out, he looked back at the older male - who was evidently less than amused by this - and was about to back away only for Minho to stop him, placing a hand on his back as the male gestured towards the elevator. Jisung looked at him pleadingly but Minho remained unperturbed and instead proceeded onto prompting the younger, "You first."</p><p>Seeing that nothing had happened to the younger upon entering, Minho followed suit. Right after he crossed the doors, they closed behind him, locking them both inside. They waited for a while but nothing was happening.</p><p>They spent a few moments in silence before Jisung, who slowly became restless due the lack of any sound, decided to break it. Turning to face the older male, he asked him, "What do we do now?"</p><p>Minho, keeping up his indifferent and brash facade, replied with yet another question, "What do the buttons say?" From those words alone, Jisung understood the implication that although the male had some sort of inclination about what they needed to do, he refused to be the one to actually do it.</p><p>Knowing that fighting with the other over it was not going to help them in any way, he let his mind race a bit before he decided to man up. 'It's fine. I'll take one for the team,' he thought to himself, silently accepting the role he had been unwillingly handed.</p><p>Inwardly sighing in exhaustion, Jisung moved closer to the panel. Eyeing it curiously, he furrowed his brows in confusion as he read the numbers out loud, "4, 7, 14, 21, 25." Did they have any significance or meaning? If so, what?</p><p>"What the fuck happened to all the other floors in between?" Minho furrowed his brows, ruffling his hair in frustration. Jisung shrugged his shoulders in response, just as clueless as the taller, "I don't know."</p><p>"Try them all," Minho instructed.</p><p>Jisung nodded in agreement, rushing over to the buttons. Mulling over it in his head for a few seconds, he quickly came to a decision. Pressing on the bottom most button, '4'.</p><p>To his surprise, nothing happened. He neither felt the elevator moving and the button hadn't lit up like he had expected it to either. Jisung was once again thrown into a pit of confusion, 'What exactly is going on?'</p><p>Seeing as just questioning everything that was happening wasn't going to get him or Minho anywhere he steeled himself and proceeded to try the rest of the buttons. Of course, still very much wary of their current predicament, Jisung's heart was pounding with nerves.</p><p>'7' Nothing. Still no movement, no light.</p><p>'14' was the same.</p><p>"Hurry up, will you!"</p><p>With that, the pressure for him to act increased, his palms became sweaty as anxiety began to course throughout his body, gulping, throat constricting. His hands shook slightly as he pressed the next button.</p><p>'21' was once again the same.</p><p>As his finger hovered over the last button, his heart began to pound against his chest harshly. It was almost as though his entire being was trying to warn him of the imminent danger that was to come. He looked behind him to see the male's stare and willed himself.</p><p>It lit up.</p><p>"Only one works? That's strange." Jisung muttered under his breath, silently relieved that his instincts were wrong. It had lit up but nothing happened. They waited for a few seconds but everything remained still. Unable to bear with the silence, Jisung turned to the other male and was about to ask for his opinion on what they should do. Unfortunately, or not, he didn't get to do so.</p><p>The elevator had suddenly rocked in place, the lights flickering. The motion had sent him stumbling and he would've fallen had Minho not held him up by his arm. Just as abruptly as it had started, the shaking stopped and the lights returned to normal.</p><p>The two of them exchanged a short glance as the elevator doors opened with a small 'ding', revealing to them what was beyond it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just to let you know, there's no fixed schedule for updates but anyway hope you enjoyed the story and thank you for reading! :) </p><p>P.s. Don't be afraid to comment or ask questions (we'll answer with as much as we can without spoiling future events)</p><p>This work is also cross-posted on Wattpad under the username Milkyeong.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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